Parents less likely to vaccinate boys against HPV, a cancer-causing virus: Study

Updated March 26, 2018 at 1:59 PM;Posted March 26, 2018 at 12:55 PM

Tom Jackson, 65, of Houston, shows where he first noticed a tumor related to his HPV-related tonsil cancer, found in 2013. Jackson spoke from his home on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. He said doctors told him the cancer could haven taken away his voice. (AP Photo/ John L. Mone)(Marilynn Marchione Associated Press)

Parents are less likely to vaccinate their teenage boys against the virus known to cause a variety of cancers including cervical, throat and mouth cancer. Most say it's because their provider didn't mention the vaccine, according to a new study from John Hopkins Hospital.

One in five parents of teenage boys said that they did not intend to vaccinate their child with the human papillomavirus (HPV) primarily because they did not get a recommendation to do so compared to one in 10 parents of girls, according to the study's lead author Anna Beavis, a gynecologic oncology fellow at John Hopkins Hospital.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and causes about 99.9 percent of all cervical cancers. According to the Centers for Disease Control about 79 million Americans, most in their late teens or early 20s, are infected with HPV. There are hundreds of strains of the virus, some of which can cause health problems including genital warts and certain cancers such as cervical, mouth and throat cancer, vaginal and anal cancer. The virus is spread through sexual contact.

When the Food and Drug Administration first approved the HPV vaccine in 2006 it was marketed only to female patients. The vaccine was approved for boys as young as 9 in 2009 and is recommended by the CDC as a routine childhood vaccination to prevent HPV-related cancers.

"In general, the most common reason parents do not vaccinate both boys and girls were a misperception that the HPV vaccine is not necessary," said Dr. Beavis.

The study is based on data from the National Immunization Survey-Teen, which looks at vaccination rates in the United State among teenagers ages 13 to 17.

About 13 percent of parents surveyed in 2015 said that they did not know about the HPV vaccine. Almost 20 percent of parents said that their provider had not spoken to them about the vaccine for their teenage sons.

"In some cases physicians didn't want to talk about the vaccine because it meant having to talk to parents about their teenagers' sexual history," said Dr. Beavis.

Meanwhile the United States lags behind other developed countries in regard to HPV vaccination rates. The Guardian reports that Australia reported a 78.6 percent HPV vaccination rate among 15-year-old girls and 72.9 percent among boys in 2016. HPV rates in Australia dropped among women ages 18 to 24 from 22.7 percent in 2005 to 1.1. percent in 2015.

In the U.S. only 50 percent of girls between 13 to 17 and 28 percent of boys in that age group had finished the series of HPV vaccinations. The vaccine is now given in two doses six months apart.

Dr. Beavis said that in general the HPV is recommended for girls from ages 9 to 26 and males ages 9 to 21. However, high-risk groups such as transgender women and men who have sex with men, are also able to get the vaccine up to age 26.

Maria Clark writes about health, doctors, patients and healthcare in Louisiana for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com or 504.258.5306. Or follow her on Twitter at @MariaPClark1.